Chosen Families Project #29: The Story of Agnes Millicent (Rindge) Claflin, Miriam Allyn (Brigham) Rindge and the Brigham Family - Part 1 - RETURNED
Agnes Millicent (Rindge) Claflin
14 months old (about 1902) in Evanston, Illinois
Miriam Allyn (Brigham) Rindge
2 1/2 months old (about 1877) in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Hello everyone, welcome back to The Chosen Families Project!
It is 2024! I am so so excited to be back and be able to return more photographs and tell more stories. My goal this year is return more, share more stories, and maybe even some guests on the podcast.
Today I have an exciting story to present which I have been working on for a while, but first I have some exciting news to share. Last year, I was able to speak as a guest speaker on The Photo Detective podcast by Maureen Taylor, which will be coming out soon. I encourage everyone to go check out her work, which offers amazing resources regarding identifying and returning old photographs.
The photographs I will be focusing on today were part of a photograph collection of over 20 photographs that I recovered at a local antique store in New Jersey. When I first found the photograph collection, I noticed similar names and hand writing on the back of many of them from this store. After purchasing this photograph collection, with some careful research, I determined this collection belonged to the Brigham Family from Michigan and Vermont.
The first photograph is of a young Agnes Millicent Rindge, taken when she was about 14 months old in Evanston Illinois, as noted on the back of the photograph (although the photograph itself was produced in Grand Rapids, Michigan).
Back of Photograph
The second group of 4 photographs are that of Miriam Allyn Brigham, taken in Grand Rapids, Michigan when she was 3 ½ months old, 2 ½ years old (I have two copies of this photograph) , and 3 years old respectively (that last of which was taken alongside her sister Ruth Ryder Brigham, aged 2).
With some careful research, I determined that Miriam was Agnes’s mother. Both led interesting lives, including being involved in the arts, as well as being direct descendants of those who took part in the American Revolution.
Before getting further into this story, I was wondering who this photograph collection had belonged to, or who had written the notations on all the photographs within the collection. One of the photographs, who I identified as Martha Lucinda (Button) Reynolds, had noted that " I [one of the Brigham children] was married from her home 1832 Hinman Ave Evanston.” To note on the back of one of the other photographs, of George B. Reynolds, he was identified as the guardian of the family after the death of their father, who I figured after finding a photograph of Agnes Ruth (Walker) Brigham in mourning dress. An article from 17 Aug 1899, stated that Miriam married her husband Harry C. Rindge at the home of George B Reynolds at the exact address noted on the back of the photograph of Martha. I can reasonably conclude that at one point, since the handwriting is similar on the back of most of the photographs, that Miriam had once owned and/or was the one who wrote identifying information on the back of the entire collection (thank you Miriam!).
Martha Lucina (Button) Reynolds, the wife of George B. Reynolds, taken in Evanston, Illinois.
The Inter Ocean | 17 Aug 1899, Thu ·Page 7
With this series, since there are just so many photographs of various individuals I recovered, I will do this in a multipart series, including stories on George & Martha Reynolds and Martha’s mother (another photograph I recovered, referred to as “Grandma Button”), as well as Miriam’s mother Agnes and the rest of her siblings. Here is the story of Miriam Allyn (Brigham) Rindge and her daughter Agnes Millicent (Rindge) Claflin.
Agnes Millicent (Rindge) Claflin
Agnes Millicent Rindge was born on 19 May 1900 in Grand Rapids, Michigan to parents Harry Cook Rindge (1869-1933) and Miriam Allyn Brigham (1875-1933). In 1910, Agnes was residing with her parents in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The following year, she took a trip to Guatemala with her parents, arriving back through Louisiana. Her parent’s were well off, with her father working for the Red Cross, and later a Salesman.
Agnes had a diverse and refined educational background. The Dictionary of Art Historians summarizes her background well:
Claflin graduated from the Madeira School in 1917 and entered Mount Holyoke College that fall. She remained there until 1919. In 1921 she graduated magna cum laude from Radcliffe College. She taught briefly at Vassar College in 1923 as lecturer, but returned to Radcliffe to complete her graduate degrees, the M.A. in 1927 and Ph. D. in 1928. In 1929 she published her first book, Sculpture, "The contemporary point of view about the art of sculpture.”
By 1931, according to Vassar, she promoted as a full-time professor, holding a longtime career in the art department. She was described as a “vibrant center and guiding force of the department” according to Vassar. She was also writing articles during this time period, including those published in Studio International, Parnassus, as well as other short essays such as The Elder Pieter Bruegel: A Short Essay amongst other works. While still solely a professor, she compiled the catalog for art collection at Vassar in 1939, an accomplishment which won her added duties as the gallery's director (1943-62), some of which can be seen below.
Miscellany News, Volume XXIII, Number 55, 14 June 1939
Also during this time however, she experience great tragedy in her life. Her father, Harry, passed away on in 18 March of 1933 in France; her mother, Miriam, was killed on the 7 Aug 1933 in Spain following a car accident (which I discuss further in her story).
Agnes was also active member for the arts during WWII. In 1937, she began hiring German émigrés for Vassar who were fleeing Nazi persecution, including Richard Krautheimer and Adolf Katzenellenbogen. When the conflict broke out, Agnes had served as Executive Secretary and Consultant in the Art Division of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs between 1941-42.
Prof. Agnes Rindge of the Department of Art in her leave of absence is serving under the Council of National Defense in the Division of Cultural Relations between the American Republics. She is one of the two Executive Secretaries of the Committee on Art (Vassar College, 20 September 1941)
Also in 1941, she was also asked to be a member of the Museum of Modern Art's Advisory Committee , where she had served as the Assistant Executive Vice President to the Museum 1943-44. Her election to this position by the MOMA was noted in a Sep 1943 press archives report, as well as her return as professor to Vassar College in September of 1944. Also during 1943, she was elected to the American Association of Museums.
Press Archive Release, MOMA, 8 Sep 1943
Vassar Chronicle, Volume II, Number 1, 2 September 1944
Following the war, she married her husband, Captain Phillip Wadsworth Claflin on the 4 Jan 1945 at the Military Ordinariate located at 463 Madison Ave in New York City.
Vassar Miscellany News, Volume XXIX, Number 16, 10 January 1945
Phillip Wadsworth Claflin, aged 19 (Courtesy swarne64, Ancestry)
Poughkeepsie Journal | 05 Jan 1945, Fri ·Page 8
According to the Dictionary of Art Historians further, from 1945-48 she was Chairman of the College Art Association, remaining on its Board of Directors until 1951. She lectured widely at Vassar and elsewhere, and had finally retired from the College in 1965. Prior to her retirement, in 1962, Agnes was an Honorary Degree Recipient from Wheaton College in Massachusetts.
During her long career in the arts, Agnes had the oppurtunity to work amongst many different artists of the period. During the 1930s, she worked alongside George Platt Lynes, a NJ-based photographer (who I deeply admire). An excerpt from the book George Platt Lynes: The Daring Eye by Allen Ellenzweig notes “Agnes Rindge arranges a demanding commission of photographing Vassar’s 1935 graduating class. Next, George photographs noteworthy artists for Chick Austin’s 1936 Hartford Festival program.” Lynes had even photographed her, in a portrait shown down below.
© Estate of George Platt Lynes from the Philadelphia Museum of Art
While working at the MOMA in 1943, in conjunction with MOMA's exhibition on Alexander Calder of the same year, she had written and narrated one of the first art museum multi-media shows, a 10-minute film entitled Alexander Calder: Sculpture and Constructions which can be found online. Agnes was close friends Calder. In addition to being involved in the film, according to the Calden foundation, Calden often provided Agnes with many gifts, including a sculpture called The Circle (1934) and Fire Proof Veil (1944), as well as being able to be inside his studio. Alexander Calder (1898-1976) was a noted American sculptor well recognized for mobiles as public sculptures. She also had a marble bust made for her artist Nathanial Chaote (1899-1965).
From the Calder Foundation
Several years after Calder gave The Circle to Agnes Rindge Claflin, a close friend and professor of art history at Vassar College, she referenced the standing mobile in her commentary for a film made on the occasion of Calder’s major 1943 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Contrasting the sculpture's motion with the prescribed pathways of the artist's motorized mobiles, Claflin wrote, “With the free natural movement, whatever was lost in formal pattern, could be made up in rhythmic variety. Light, swinging forms stirred by the air or the wind set up countless free, apparently spontaneous, patterns. Chance plays a large part in the rhythms set in motion.” The Circle is currently on view in The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar, to which Claflin gifted the mobile in 1963.
[Video: The Circle, 1934, in motion. © 2020 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York]
In 1944, Calder’s friend Agnes Rindge Claflin complained to him that she had nothing to wear to the upcoming Christmas party at Vassar College, where she was a professor in the Art History department. Not long thereafter, Claflin received a tiara from Calder that he dubbed Fire Proof Veil. The headpiece is constructed of a series of sheet metal letters, “A, R, V, C, P, N, Y,” each dangling from its own wire attached to a central headband. The letters stand for “Agnes Rindge Vassar College Poughkeepsie New York” and are designed to hang in front of the wearer's face.
[Image: Fire Proof Veil, 1944. © 2018 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York]
Agnes Rindge Claflin and Alexander Calder in Calder’s studio, circa 1942.
Agnes Rindge Claflin papers/Archives of American Art/Smithsonian Institution
Agnes Rindge Claflin passed away on the 12 Jun 1977 in Kingston, New York at the age of 77. Her obituary was published in the New York Times. She was buried in Mount Wollaston Cemetery located in Quincy, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, USA. Following her death, she had a posthumous exhibition held at the Vassar College Art Gallery the following year as well as fund dedicated in her honor. In addition, the collection holds a special collection of her papers. Her husband passed away in 1990.
Her childhood photograph has been donated to the The Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library which houses many of Agnes’ personal papers.
Miriam Allyn (Brigham) Rindge
Miriam Allyn (Brigham) Rindge
(1921 Passport Application)
Miriam Allyn Brigham was born on the 15 Nov 1875 in Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan to parents Dr. Gershom Nelson Brigham and Agnes Ruth Walker. She had 5 half siblings and 4 full siblings all of which (that survived to adulthood), all of which I have recovered photographs of in the same lot of photographs. As mentioned previously, I have recovered photographs of Miriam when she was 3 ½ months old, 2 ½ years old (I have two copies of this photograph) , and 3 years old respectively (that last of which was taken alongside her sister Ruth Ryder Brigham, aged 2), all of which in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Her father, Dr. Gershom N. Brigham was born in Fayston, Vermont in 1820, her mother Agnes Ruth Walker, his second wife, was born in Montpellier in 1845. Dr. Brigham was recognized for bringing the field of homeopathic medicine to Vermont. According to census records in 1880, she lived with her parents and siblings in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her father, died in 1886, when Miriam was only 12 years old. There is a photograph I recovered of Agnes, her mother, dressed in widow attire from this time period. Her mother died in 1894, when Miriam was 19.
By the late 1800s the family had moved to Illinois, with some of her siblings born there. In 1897, she is noted as residing in South Hadley, Hampshire, Massachusetts, a member of Mount Holyoke College 1899. Also that same year, on the 15 Aug 1899, she married her husband Harry C. Rindge, who at the time served for the Red Cross. I also noted previously that, based on newspaper articles of her marriage and notes on the back of other photographs, I had determined this photograph collection likely belonged to Miriam and possibly her mother Agnes,
For Harry Rindge, I had determined that he had earned awards for his work in the Red Cross, specifically for his work in Estonia. Between 1900-1910, the newly married couple had still resided in Grand Rapids, Michigan, having their daughter Agnes in 1900. By 1920, the couple had moved to Manhattan, New York. Harry had worked as a Salesman alongside his work for the Red Cross. I
In May of 1921, Miriam applied for a passport application for herself and her daughter, using the priveledges from her husband, who noted as a Captain in the Red Cross. Her plans were to travel to the British Isles, France, and Italy, going along with daughter, who studied at Cambridge at the time.
Harry C. Rindge - 1922 Passport Application
The Red Cross Bulletin, Volume 2, 1921
Based on arrival and departure records, it is evident that Miriam had travelled a lot, while also having a home in New York, which was important to Agnes’s upbringing in that area.
Another important thing to mention about Miriam is that she applied for Daughters of the American Revolution Application, with her family having strong revolutionary war ties. Here is the snippet based on the record lineage archives on Ancestry. She is a direct descendant of Benjamin Walker, who served as a captain under Col. Ebenzer Bridge’s company. Ebenezer Bridge (1744–1814) of Billerica received severe sword cuts on his head and neck while commanding a Massachusetts regiment in the American front line at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
As noted previously, the couple had travelled very often. On the 18 March 1933, according to a record in the U.S., Reports of Deaths of American Citizens Abroad, 1835-1974 collection, Harry C. Rindge had died at the American Hospital located in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France from Lympho-sarcomastose. He was then cremated, with his remains were then transported back to the United States, where he is buried Grand Rapid’s Michigan at Oakhill, Cemetery. He was 63 years old.
Miriam would pass away months later, again away from the United States. She died on 7th Aug 1933 about 20 km from Villaviocosa, Oviedo, Spain from a car accident, cause of death noted as a fractured skull. Unfortunately, according to the report of her death, her remains were noted as being buried in Villaviocosa, which is curious, and makes me wonder why they couldn’t be transported back and if she is still buried there. On both of her parents death’s reports, their daughter was notified. I couldn’t imagine what Agnes felt losing both her parents the same year only a few months apart, at the age of 33.
As newspaper article does recall the tragic accident that killed Miriam.
The Evening Sun Hanover, Pennsylvania •
Wed, Aug 9, 1933 Page 8
Wow. This was a long story. But I am so glad to be able to tell this families stories. And there are so many stories I want to elborate on for this whole family, since there are over 20 photographs. It make’s me so happy that I am able to be able to return this photograph to Vassar College, where it will be preserved along Agnes’ personal papers for many generations to come, which brings me so much comfort. Although a part of me also feels bad for separating it from her other photographs. However, I have all this information and photographs records in a public family tree, where hopefully someone will reach out and I will be able to return more of the photographs to.
I have included other sources I have used for Agnes down below.
Remember that you are loved, and that you are always welcome here!
Other Sources:
“Claflin, Agnes Rindge.” Directory of Art Historians, https://arthistorians.info/claflina. Accessed 27 Nov. 2023.
Kuretsky, Susan Donahue, et al. “The History of Art at Vassar College.” Vassar College, Mar. 2011, https://www.vassar.edu/art/history.
Vassar College. 1940–1949 - A Documentary Chronicle of Vassar College. 2022, https://chronology.vassarspaces.net/records/1940-1949/.
Vassar College Digital Library. Guide to the Agnes Rindge Claflin Papers. 2009, https://digitallibrary.vassar.edu/collections/finding-aids/aead81f3-9587-471d-bf7c-6d5050de3827.
